Retiring….

 by Fr. Joseph Neiman

[published in The Anglican Digest (Lent 2008)]

Retirement: remembering, reflecting, remorse, rejoicing – these now are the components of my spirituality in the autumn of my life.

I was 41 years old when ordained, a second career, but that is another story.

After three years serving part time in two congregations, the poorer congregation called me to be their rector. The bishop had said this parish might close, and they told me they could only pay a salary for three years with their savings. Now twenty-five years later, the congregation has grown considerably and built a new church as well.

What have I learned? First I learned that I was not responsible for the faith of the congregation. Each has to respond to their own call from the Lord and shape their life style accordingly. I did, however, need to really love them for better, for worse. Remorse: sometimes I failed, but most loved me back into the relationship.

Secondly I learned there is no program or ministry technique which will produce faith. Faith is a response to the discovery of God at work in the core of one’s life. I did learn, however, that faith is powerfully strengthened when the “liturgy of life” blossoms forth into the liturgy of worship and the sacramental actions.

God’s grace, which I prefer to call God’s love energy, permeates all creation and all humanity. Jesus told us, Matthew relates, that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Mt 5:45). I do not bring God’s grace to the congregation with liturgy and sacramental actions. I can only help the action of God in their lives already, the liturgy of life, to blossom in the liturgy of worship and the sacramental actions.

Dying: sharing with families from serious illness to the vigil at the hour of death, to the funeral planning and through the reception celebrating their loved one’s life afterwards – these are moments when prayer and anointing and reflective conversation bring the two “liturgies” together in a powerful, spirit-filled encounter that transforms all involved.

Healing: Years ago I started offering the opportunity for the laying on of hands and anointing for healing after each Eucharist for those experiencing dis-ease in their lives, going for testing, struggling with long-term illness, or carrying the burden of suffering with a loved one. After the Eucharist offered a more private moment much akin to private confession as we note in the Exhortation (BCP p. 316). Here the private prayers of those seeking healing were linked with the sacramental actions and prayers of the community. Friends or choir members or pastoral visitors joined in the encounter, and we rejoiced to see the positive results.

These are but two examples where members find the liturgy of worship and the sacramental actions expressing God’s love energy in the midst of their personal life and faith experiences. There are many other such opportunities where spontaneous prayer and those of the Prayer Book link the two, including prayers for birthdays and anniversaries, for safe delivery of the expected child, for transition to retirement, and all such regular life experiences where God is already at work. I needed only to help that action become manifest.

I rejoice that the congregation did their best to make a decent priest out of me, and for this I give thanks daily, recalling the words of Paul to Timothy that the Lord “judged me faithful and appointed me to his service even though….. “(1 Tim 1:12-14).

Retirement is like an exile away from the community with whom we shared so many profound transforming moments, but there are new horizons that the good Lord is opening. What will they be?